Jack Wells Davis; Olympic silver medalist, Training Center founder

Developed communities in San Diego

Jack Davis, won his first Olympic victory 60 years ago this week in Helsinki, Finland. Walking into the stadium with the U.S. team at the opening ceremonies, he glanced sideways at his teammate, carrying the American flag, and saw the crowd burst into applause, giving a standing ovation. “I’ve never been so moved,” Davis later told friends.

But despite beating world records, the two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 110-meter hurdle was always working on bettering his own time and later went on to train athletes across the globe in international goodwill missions with the State Department.

Mr. Davis, who was instrumental in establishing San Diego’s U.S. Olympic Training Center, died July 20 of organ failure at Mercy Hospital in downtown San Diego. He was 81.

Mr. Davis returned to the Olympics in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia to make good on the gold medal he was so close to getting in the 1952 photo-finish race where he tied in the finals with Harrison Dillard, who broke the ribbon at the finish line with his chest while Mr. Davis crossed the line foot first. In 1956, Mr. Davis tied again for first, having the same time as fellow American Lee Calhoun, but found himself with another silver medal.

“He was disappointed, but not bitter,” said his daughter Jackie D. Gray. “He remained so positive; he loved the sport for its own sake.”

After the 1956 Olympics, he worked with the U.S. State Department as Olympic Ambassador for Track and Field Teams, coaching athletes in many countries around the world, including dozens of cities in Africa, that were establishing Olympic teams. He often gave athletes a 30-40 yard lead, which led to close competitions and at one point landed him in the hospital, feverish and exhausted, after losing 15 pounds.

Mr. Davis later became a real estate developer.

“He epitomized hard work and dedication in all he did,” said longtime friend Bob Adelizzi.

Jack Wells Davis was born Sept. 11, 1930 in Amarillo, Tex. to Maud and Forest Davis. He took his first hurdle at a meet on the track of his high school, Glendale’s Hoover High, in the Los Angeles area in 1947, and went on to set U.S. and world hurdle records over the next decade. While attending the University of Southern California in the early 1950s, he was a three-time NCAA champion in the outdoor 220-yard hurdle and was world ranked in the 110-meter hurdle, placing number one in the world three times.

He was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001 and USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2004 and was a founding member of the U.S. Olympic Training Center, which opened in Chula Vista in 1995 to train Olympic candidates. He served in the Naval Reserves while attending the University of Southern California and graduated in 1953 with a bachelor’s degree. He later did a year of graduate studies in education at USC. He served the Navy active duty 1954-57, stationed in San Diego, Washington D.C. and as lieutenant aboard the U.S.S. Yorktown. He married Betty Strevey in 1958 and they raised three children; they divorced in 1989. He married Carol PC Davis in 1992. Mr. Davis lived nearly 45 years in San Diego where he developed most notably the Coronado Cays and Stoneridge community in Poway along with ski resorts in Park City, Utah and Steam Boat Springs, Colo.